THE ELOEAL MAGAZINE 
NEW SERIES.] NOVEMBER, 1873. [No. 23. 
EXHIBITION. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
October 1st. 
This was essentially the Fungus Day, when all kinds of 
edible and unedible species were submitted for the in- 
spection of the curious and the delight of the favoured 
few, who are no doubt acquainted with a very in- 
teresting, but as far as the grower of flowers is con- 
cerned, a very pestilential family, to avoid the attacks of 
some of the species being his chief aim ; we therefore 
pass them by to notice a few other objects more con- 
genial, although there was not really much of a valuable 
character. Some of tliose for which j^rizes were offered 
found no competitors sufficiently interested in them to 
exhibit, and the novelties were few ; we noticed, however 
the following : Cattleya’speciosa Bassetii, exhibited by 
Mr. T. Baines, gardener to H. Nicholls Esq., Southgate 
House, with a deep purple lip, yellowish cream at the 
base, the sepals and petals flushed with purplish pink. 
This was awarded a first-class certificate, as was also 
(although hardly distinct enough) Golden fleece Thyme, 
similar to Thymus cotriadora aurea, but a little larger in 
leaf. Mr. Williams had one also for Pourretia achupulla, 
with gracefully arching leaves upwards of a yard long, 
bright green, tipped with crimson. A curious sport of 
Lady Middleton Geranium, with rose and scarlet coloured 
flowers, came from Chiswick, and Mr. Bull had a fine 
Castor-oil plant, Ricinus refulgens, with dark refulgent 
leaves. 
Dahlias were exhibited by Mr. G. S. Harris, of Orping- 
ton, amongst them Mrs. Harris, which had already 
received a first-class certificate ; and Mr. Rawlings of 
Romford sent also a box of exceedingly good flowers of 
Dahlias already in commerce. 
Roses were exhibited in considerable numbers by 
Messrs. Paul and Son, Cheshunt, and Mr. William Paul, 
Waltham Cross ; the blooms were many of them re- 
markably good for the season, and included those fine 
well-known varieties, Alfred Colomb, Duke of Edin- 
burgh, Charles Lefebvre, Dr. Andry, Souvenir d’Elise 
Yardon, Edouard Morren, Senator Vaisse, Gloire de 
Dijon, Dupuy Jamin. Besides these, Messrs. Paul and 
Son had blooms of Cheshunt Hybrid, which we have 
often noticed in terms of praise. Cyclamens were ex- 
hibited in excellent condition by Mr. R. Clarke, 
Twickenham, thus showing that for nine months in the 
year this beautiful plant can be had in bloom. 
GARDEN LABELS. 
What a perplexing thing is labelling out-of-door 
plants? how provoking to think that you managed to 
label all your roses, for example, so nicely, and then to 
find that either the wire has rotted, or the damp has 
obliterated the writing, and so “ Lovers labour’s lost” 
becomes the fittest title for your work. We therefore 
hail with satisfaction the new Shakspeare label, in- 
vented and brought out by Messrs. Bell and Thorpe, of 
Stratford-on-Avon; they are of a hard metal galvanized, 
and the letters are cast in such bold relief that they 
would seem to deserve their title of imperishable ; they 
are of various sizes, either round or oval, some are 
adapted for hanging on trees and bushes, and others 
for placing in the ground ; they are very cheap and 
likely to be very generally used. 
PENTSTEMON PALMERI. 
In the Pentstemon Palmeri of Dr. Gray, a species allied 
to P. Cobsea and P. Jamesii, a very distinct and novel 
form of this interesting genus is added to our list of 
garden plants. It grows four feet high or more (hence 
Dr. Gray’s description, sesquipedalis, must have been 
made from imperfect materials), the stem being termi- 
nated by a noble paniculate inflorescence. The young 
shoots from the base have opposite, long-stalked, fleshy, 
glaucous leaves oblong-ovate in form, with coarse, 
distinct, and remarkably prominent marginal teeth ; 
while the leaves on the flowering stems are short and 
broadly ovate, completely connate, with the edge turned 
up so as to form a basin around the stalk. The flowers 
are rather more than an inch long, the tube remarkably 
inflated above, and contracted just at the base, where 
they are set into the short inconspicuous calyx. The 
colour is a pale rosy lilac with a purple stripe answering 
to each of the lobes of the lower lip, which is remarkably 
elongated and deflexed, while the upper lip is projected 
forwards, and merely revolute at the edge. The bearded 
sterile filament is very conspicuous at the mouth of the 
tube. The plant is very ornamental in character, as 
well as perfectly distinct, and will he welcomed in every 
garden where hardy perennials are cared for — the 
number of which, we are heartily glad to see, is day by 
day increasing. We have to thank Mr. W. Thompson, 
of Ipswich, for specimens of this novelty. — Gardener's 
Chronicle. 
